Orion's EP Yugen (which has vocals), can be bought from their official website and streamed on Youtube:
Next up was the Bellerophon Project, an instrumental band from Germany. I'll let you play "count the strings" while you look at the following picture:
First of all, TBP describe their music as "...progressive and educational metal music for live shows and workshops" and I think it's a pretty apt description. It's technical, it was a delight watching every one of them play and despite my recent difficulties enjoying instrumental music their set was much more enjoyable for me than Felix Martin's set on the previous day. Although at times it did feel a bit like a workshop it didn't hurt the performance much, the songs felt like actual songs and the interludes/synth sounds (played as a backing track) gave the songs an extra layer which was very welcome. I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more if I had been a little more familiar with their material beforehand as I had only heard one song before and only once at that. After giving their EP a quick listen I could recognize a few riffs and interludes that I remember liking at the show so I'd recommend listening to it a few times before seeing them.
If you get a chance to see them live, do it, even if you don't, buy their album. It's well worth the asking price.
A couple of things worth noting:
1. Mike had his first (of three across the day) drum malfunctions in the beginning of the set, while unfortunate, I was glad that it happened then instead of in the middle of a song.
2. Maxi used three different guitars during the set and they were all gorgeous.
The Algorithm and Monuments will get their own posts with live reviews and interviews so that leaves only one artist we saw on Saturday, the most tech, least metal act on the bill this year: Jon Gomm.
Maybe next year.
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/meta-stasis-second-album-funding
and here is the new song: